Hardin1

SarahHardin
TinaChavez
Government
1/9/15

Finding What Factors Affect the Development of Literacy in Children: Senior

Internship With High Tech Elementary Second Graders
Iwasraisedbyaprimaryschoolteacher.So,naturally,assoonasIcouldtalk,Iwas
beingtaught,littlebylittle,howtoread.BythetimeIhadturnedfour,thelibrarybecamemy
newfavoriteplace.Iwasabletoreadentirepicturebooksbymyselfbeforeentering
kindergarten,andbeganreadingthirdgradelevelchapterbooksuponenteringfirstgrade.Ihave
alwaysbeenaveryfluentspellerandaveryfastreader,despitethedyslexiathatrunsinmy
family.MymotheractuallyusedtothinkIwouldjustlookatthepagesinmybookswithout
actuallyreadingthem,becausethereisnowayafiveyearoldcouldbereadingthatquickly.To
thisday,readingissomethingIgenuinelyenjoydoinginmyfreetime.Ialwaysthoughtthatthe
onlyreasonIcouldhavebeensoadvancedwhenIwasyoung,wasbecausemymotherwas
alwaysinvolvedinmyacademiccareerandencouragingmetoread.Ihaveanolderbrotherwho
wassubjectedtothesameliteraryexposureearlyon.Heisaveryacademicindividual,and
excelsinhisschoolworktoalevelatwhichIadmire.However,hehasalwaysstruggledwith
reading.Inprimaryschool,hehadtroublestayinguptogradelevelandhadtogetpulledoutof
classfrequentlytoseeatutorintheschool.Hereallydoesnotlikereading.Helikesaudiobooks,
andlikesdiscussingliterarythemes,butreadingisstillnotastrongsuitofhis.Now,ifparent
involvementearlyonhassuchaheavyhandinchilddevelopment,andlongtermsuccesswith
reading,whydidtwochildrenwhowereraisedbythesameparentandweregiventhesame

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amountofliteraryexposureturnoutsodifferently?Thereasonmybrotherstruggledand
continuestostrugglewithreadingisbecausehehasdysgraphia,whichisaformofdyslexiathat
notonlyprovidesdifficultieswithreadingandspelling,butalsowithhandwriting.Thisleadsme
tobelievethattherearemanyotherfactorsoutsideofthehomethatcanaffectthedevelopment
ofchildliteracy.Inmybrotherscase,notbeingabletoreadatgradelevelinprimaryschoolhas
affectedhisacademiccareer,buthasnotgotteninthewayofhissuccess.Thequestionis,how?

Leveling Texts and Students

Readinglevelsexisttoassigndifficultytoatext,andmatchstudentstosaiddifficulty
basedontheirability.Lowerleveltextsmainlyconsistofbasichighfrequency
vocabulary,andasthecomplexityofthetextprogresses,sodoesthereadinglevelattachedto
it.Otherareasthataretakenintoaccountwhenlevelingatextincludethestructureofthetext,
theamountofwordsonthepage,illustrations,themainideasportrayed,andrepetitionof
words.Studentsarematchedtolevelsthroughaprocessofguidedreadingofvocabularyand
stories.Thestudentsstartoffwithreadingasetofwordlistsstartingwithhighfrequency
words,andmakingtheirwayuptomorecomplexvocabularywords.Whenstudentsmake
errorsgreaterthan90%,theyarestopped.Studentsarestartedtwolevelsbelowtheirestimated
readinglevel.Ifascoreisbelow90%,thestudentwillthenreadthenextlowerlevel.This
processiscontinueduntilthestudentscores90%orhigher.Ifthestudentinitiallyscoredhigher
than90%,theymoveontothenexthigherlevel,andcontinueuntiltheyscorelowerthan90%.
Thewordlistscorrespondwiththeleveledreadingpassages.Studentsaretoldtheywillreadthe
passageandanswercomprehensionquestionswhenfinished.Asthestudentisreading,the
administratorwillrecorderrorsmadeinpronunciationordeletion.Isachildselfcorrectstheir

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error,itisnotcounted.Thereadingassessmentwillcoveroralreadingaccuracy,fluency,and
comprehension.Theoralreadingshowsthepercentageofwordsthestudentreadcorrectlyina
timedsetting.Fluencyismeasuredbythestudentsabilitytogroupwordsorphrases,theflow
thattheyreadin,andtheexpressivenessused.Italsoassertsthestudentsabilitytodrawthe
meaningofthetextaswellastheirabilitytodecodethewords.Comprehensionisscoredby
theirabilitytoretellthestoryandanswertextbasedquestions.Theuseofexactpromptsin
storyretellingneedstobefollowed.Researchhasfoundstudentsresponddifferentlyto
differentprompts.Afterretelling,thestudentwillanswercomprehensionquestionsaboutthe
passagetheyread.Oncethisprocessiscomplete,theadministratorreferstoachartthatwill
determineifthetextiswithin,above,orbelowtheirreadinglevel.

Why Does Performing at Grade Level Matter?

Examiningliteracywhilestudentsareinkindergarteniscrucial,asstudiesshowthatpoor
performanceinfirstgradeplaysasignificantroleinpredictingwhetherornotachildwill
eventuallydropoutofschool.(St.Clair,Jackson,andZweiback).Thegoalofprimaryschool
teachersistogetstudentsreadingatgradelevelbytheendofsecondgrade,becauseoncea
childisinthirdgrade,itbecomeshardertoinstillreadingstrategiesthathelpthemtogrowas
readersindependently.Researchindicatesthat74%ofstudentsidentifiedwithreadingdeficits
inthirdgradecontinuetoexperiencesignificantreadingdifficultiesinninthgrade.(Suckram
andHsu).
IspentsometimeinterningatHighTechElementaryNorthCounty.Icameinacoupleof
weeksaftertheschoolyearstartedinSeptemberandstayeduntilearlyDecemberandobserveda
secondgradeclassandhowtheyapproachedtheirreading.Ataglance,itseemedasthoughthe

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classasawholewasontrack.Ididnoticealotofchildrenstilltransitioningintheirreading
levels,butthatistobeexpectedinthebeginningoftheschoolyear.Themostcommonstruggles
thathinderchildrenfromreadingatgradelevelarelearningdisabilitiesandlanguagebarriers.
So,whatwillhelpchildrenwhoarestrugglingwithliteracycatchupintime?

Studies and Strategies

Manystudieshaveproventhatparentalinvolvementalmostalwayshasapositiveeffect
inachildsacademiccareer.Theearlierthechildisexposedtoreadinginitially,thebetter.If
parentsfeelunequippedtohelptheirchild,therearemanyearlyactionreadingprogramsthat
helpbothstudentsimprovetheirliteracyandgiveparentsthenecessarytoolstohelptheirchild
continueintheirliteracy.ACanadianstudyshowedthatparentscanbeusefulreadingtutors,but
arenotapredictableresource,assomeparentsmaynothavethetoolsorskillstohelptheirchild
inawayotherparentscould.Whenparentsweregivendirectionsoutlininghowtoscaffoldthe
readingandcomprehension,improvementwasseeninsilentreading,butnotoralreading.They
alsolookedattrainingparentsdirectlytotutortheirchildren,butparentparticipationwaslowso
therewasnotmuchgainfromit.Anotherstrategyusedwaspairedreading,whichyieldedmore
positiveresults.Strategiesusedincludedreadingcomprehension,fluency,andvocabulary.To
improvethechildrensreadingcomprehension,thescaffoldingusedincludedgenerating
questions,summarizingthetext,analyzingwordmeaningsindifficultpassages,andmaking
predictions.Toimproveoralreadingfluency,atechniqueofrepeatedreadingprovedbeneficial.
Toincreaseachildsvocabulary,studieshaveshownthatgivingexplanationsofwordswhile
readingorallywasvaluable.Havingthechildidentifythemeaningofwordsfromthecontext
wasencouragedmorethandirectexplanationsofthewords.Theresultsofthisstudyshowedthat

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childrenwhoparticipatedintheseinterventionsshowedimprovementoverthecourseofthis
8weekprogram.(PaganandSnchal).
Gettingparentsinvolvedintheirchildrensdevelopmentisespeciallyimportantfor
ELL(EnglishLanguageLearning)children.ELLstudentsthatcomefromlowincomefamilies
aretwiceaslikelytoreadbelowgradelevelthanchildrenwhoonlyspeakenglish(St.Clair,
Jackson,Zweiback).ELLstudentsaswellastheirparentstendtobelessthanproficientin
Englishspeakingskills,whichusuallyresultsinthestudentsfallingbehindearlyon.Susan
PanferovconductedastudywithtwoESL(EnglishasaSecondLanguage)families,comparing
theparentsinvolvementandchildrensdevelopment.Themainfactorsthatgreatlyaffectedthe
childrensdevelopmentwerethese:Thevalueplacedoneducationbyparents,thetimespent
withchildrenworkingthroughtheirassignments,theacademicexpectationsset,anda
challengedorunchallengedparentalauthority.Myinitialthoughtuponreadingthisstudywas
whetherornotallofthesefactorsareapplicabletoanychildsliteracy.Isthereauniversal
strategythatenablesstudentstoperformatgradelevel?Theonlywaytofigurethatoutisto
figureoutwhatispreventingthemfromperformingatgradelevelinthefirstplace.

Research in the Field: From the Classroom to the Home

Initially,Ibegancollectingmydatathroughobservation.Iobservedthestudentsandsaw
howeachofthemapproachedreadersworkshop.Readersworkshopisablockthattheclasshas
everydaywheregroupsofstudentsrotatebetweenindependentreading,writing,wordwork,and
razkids(anonlinereadingprogram).Ifoundthatrightoffthebat,thebooksthatachildwill
choose,andhowoftentheyswitchoutbooksletsoneknowthekindofattentionthatchildneeds
intheclassroom.Inoticedthatstudentswhopickupsmallerpicturebooks,orthosewhopickup

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largerbooksandswapthemoutmorefrequentlyforothers,arestudentswhomayneedmore
attentioninwritingorreading.However,myobservationswillonlytakemesofar.Thegoalhere
istofindoutwhatfactorscancontributetoadvancedorbelowaverageliteracy.
Atfirst,IthoughtIcouldjustinterviewthestudentsandcomparetheirresponsestomy
questionswiththeirreadinglevelsandtrytofindacorrelation.Then,Ithoughtthatsometimes
childrenseemtoembellishorexaggerate(Likesayingtheyread48bookspernight!)
oftentimes,theydothistomakethemselvesseemsmarter,orsometimesbecausetheyactually
feelliketheyarereading40bookseverynight.So,Ihadtoinvolveparentswithoutmakingthem
feeltargetedbymyresearchtopicsotheywouldanswerhonestly.
Myfinalsurveywasintheformofahomeworkassignment.Isentthesurveyhometo
aboutnineteenstudents(receivingseventeenresponses)afterthoroughlyexplainingeach
question,thekindofanswersIwantedback,andremindingthemmultipletimestofillthisout
withtheirparent(s).Ifeltthiswouldbethemosteffectivewaytogatheraccurateinformation
abouteachchildsreadingbackgroundandtheparentslevelofinvolvement.
Thekeytocreatingthisassignmentwasverycarefulwording.Ididnotwanttoimply
exactlywhatcorrelationIwaslookingfor,forfearthattheparentswouldnotwanttoanswer
completelyandhonestly.So,Ileftamessageatthetopofthehomeworkassignmentexplaining
thatthisdatawouldbeusedanonymouslyformyresearchandleftmyemailforanyinquiries,
thoughIreceivednone.Ofcourse,evenanonymously,peoplemayfibalittlebittomake
themselvesoranideaofthemselveslookbetter,butIbelieveallofthedataIreceivedwasas
accurateaspossible.ThequestionsincludedkeyfactorsthatIthoughtwouldaffectachilds
literacydevelopment.

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Thesefactorsincludedthefollowing,
IsEnglishasecondarylanguage?
Didtheystartlearningtoreadbeforeorafterstartingkindergarten?
Weretheyinvolvedinareadingprogramoutsideofschool?
Dotheyusemultiplestrategiestopracticereadingathome?
Dotheyreadmoreatschoolorathome?
Abouthowmuchtimedotheparentsspendreadingwiththem?Isthatmoreor
lesstimesincetheystartedreading?

Results
OutoftheseventeenstudentsIcollecteddatafrom,fourstudentswerereadingatgrade
level,fourwerereadingbelowgradelevel,andninewerereadingabovegradelevel.
OneofthemainfactorsthatIthoughtwouldstuntreadingprogressisalanguagebarrier.
IhadthreeELLstudentsinmyclassallthreedidnotstartreadinguntilafterstarting
kindergartenandarecurrentlyreadingbelowgradelevel.Noneofthemparticipatedinreading
programsoutsideofschool,andtheyalluseonestrategytopracticereadingathome.Parents
readwiththemforaboutanhourandahalfperweekonaveragetwoofthefourhavespent
aboutthesameamountoftimewithparentssincetheystartedreading.Tworeportedtheyread
moreatschoolthanathome.
Inoticedalargepercentageofstudentswhowerereadingatorabovegradelevel,which
isidealfortheteacher.EightoutoftheseventeenstudentsIsurveyedhavebeenleveledatearly
tomidthirdgradereadinglevelswhilefourarereadingatmidsecondgradelevels.Allbutone
ofmystudentswhoarereadingatorabovegradelevelsaidtheystartedreadingbeforeentering

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kindergarten.Theirparentsspendabouttwohoursweeklyreadingwiththemonaverage.Fewof
themparticipatedinasummerreadingprogram,butthosewhodidareallreadingabovegrade
level.Ihavenoticedthatthestudentswhoarereadingabovegradelevelaremorelikelytoread
morebooksonaverage.Whilethosewhoarebeloworatgradelevelhavebeenreading13
booksweekly,thosewhoreadathigherlevelshavebeeneitherreadingchapterbooksorasmany
as30picturebooksweekly(althoughtheaveragenumberhasbeenapproximately8picture
books).

What Did We Learn Today?

Themostdifficultpartaboutresearchingchildren,orpeopleingeneral,isthatpeopleare
individuals.Theyhaveindividualbrainsthatabsorbinformationdifferently,theyhaveindividual
situationsthatdonotreallymatchup100%withanyoneelses,theyhaveparentswhoare
individuals,andtheyareallpursuingadifferentacademicpath,whethertheyarecurrentlyaware
ofitornot.Itisverydifficulttopinpointauniversalstrategythatwillactasthekeytoliteracy!
Ifitwerethateasy,itwouldbethatmucheasiertobeaneducator.FromthespecificcasesI
lookedat,Icansaywithcertaintythatparentshaveaheavyacademicinfluenceovertheir
children.Theamountoftimetheyspendreadingtothem,readingwiththem,andgoingover
theirassignmentsonlyhasapositiveimpact.However,parentalinvolvementisnotthekey.
Summerreadingprogramsthatteachreadingstrategiestochildrenhaveproventobebeneficial,
butthey,too,arenotthekey.Gettingaheadstartandpracticingreadingbeforekindergarten
givesstudentswonderfuladvantages,butguesswhatitisnotthekey.Allofthesestrategies
providestudentswithskillsthatarenecessarytosucceedacademically,andallofthesestrategies
shouldbeimplementedtobetterthedevelopmentofchildrensliteracy,butthemostimportant

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observationImadeatHTeNC,isthatchildrenareinherentlysmart.Iftheirparentsaredoingall
theycan,theirteachersaredoingalltheycan,andmostimportantly,iftheyaredoingallthey
can,theirstruggleswithliteracyshouldnotbeanimpossibleobstacletopassinordertobe
successful.Infact,Inoticedthatstudentswhowerehavingahardtimewithreadingwerethe
oneswhoweremostenthusiasticaboutit,theyweremoredriventogetitright.Ifwecan
encouragechildrentocontinueusetheirstrugglesasamotivator,astheyinherentlydo,success
shouldberightaroundthecornerforthem.

References
Kontovourki,Stavroula."ReadingLeveledBooksinAssessmentSaturatedClassrooms:A
CloseExaminationofUnmarkedProcessesofAssessment."ReadingResearchQuarterly
47.2(2012):15371.Web.
LeveledReadingPassages:AssessmentKit.Boston:HoughtonMifflin,2001.Print.
Pagan,Stephanie,andMoniqueSnchal."InvolvingParentsinaSummerBookReading
ProgramtoPromoteReadingComprehension,Fluency,andVocabularyinGrade
3andGrade5Children."CANADIANJOURNALOFEDUCATION37.2(2014).
Panferov,Suzanne."IncreasingELLParentalInvolvementinOurSchools:LearningFrom
theParents."TheoryIntoPractice49.2(2010):10612.
St.Clair,Lisa,BarbaraJackson,andRoseZweiback."SixYearsLater:EffectofFamily
InvolvementTrainingontheLanguageSkillsofChildrenFromMigrantFamilies."The
SchoolCommunityJournal22.1(2012).
Sukhram,DianaPatricia,andHsu,Amy."DevelopingReadingPartnershipsBetween
ParentsandChildren:AReflectionontheReadingTogetherProgram."Early

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ChildhoodEducationJournal40.2(2012):11521.